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February 17, 2013

Webcast committee votes bite the dust

It's unfortunate when a good idea goes down without much fanfare. But such was the case last week when Senator Allan Kittleman's proposal to have State Senate committee voting sessions webcast was soundly defeated by the Maryland State Senate, 41-6. There's an article about the proposal and the arguments for an against here.

If I had my way, anything civic and public would be webcast. And while I get the arguments against webcasting the voting sessions, I think the benefits of this far outweigh the drawbacks. Insofar as allowing citizens to more directly observe, if not participate in, their local democracy.

Closer to home, I would love to see CA board meetings, County advisory board meetings, village board meetings-- all webcast. I believe that when people are acting in the public interest their words and actions should be beyond reproach. In other words, public officials should be accountable. More extensive webcasting of civic functions would be a means toward that end.